Henry de Gineste​

Everything in Count Gineste's life was set like music paper.

 

As an organized and industrious entrepreneur, he was an ardent admirer of progress, which he brought to his business, to his home, and to his family’s legacy. In his youth, he was enthusiastic about renovating the wool businesses in the commune of Mazamet. However, he enjoyed living in Garrevaques so much that he made sure, before his marriage, to create monopolizing occupations.

 

Count Gineste devoted different parts of the year to his high-tech distillery, to his water conveyance works, and to the time-consuming improvements to the castle, which he wanted to equip with cutting-edge, modern amenities. Each year, he crossed the Mediterranean to manage his property of Boufarik, which he inherited from his father-in-law, who had previously participated in the French conquest of Algeria. From Boufarik he would return to Paris and then take his family on a two-month long trip, typically to Italy, but sometimes to an European capital in search of some new technology.

 

Henry was in love with Mathilde Sol de Marquein, a charming young woman with exceptional energy. She would never deign to perform typical “lady’s work” or to play the role of the ingenue. She rebelled in other ways as well: she refused to go to Sunday worship by car, like the other women. Regardless of rain or wind, she would ride, sidesaddle, on her horse. Though the coachman would follow her carrying an oversized box with a carefully folded, lady-like dress, she would set it behind the bushes and thickets. With this same mentality, knowing that though sooner or later she would get married, she decided not to rush into it like a fox into a trap, and to make poor Henry wait torturously.

 

Henry and Mathilde went on to have four children. The Count governed a tight-knit home in Garrevaques. At home, the goal was to care for each other and their neighbors, always striving to make others’ happy. The castle remains a nurturing sanctuary, also home to a charming menagerie of animals, including the countess’s many cats -- the true masters of the house.